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Nicholas Negroponte, founder of One Laptop Per Child Foundation and professor at MIT

Nicholas Negroponte Nicholas Negroponte, professor at MIT, was one of the key founders and director of the Media Laboratory until 2000. Conceived in 1980, the Media Lab opened its doors in 1985. Negroponte is also the founder of One Laptop per Child (OLPC), a project that was designed to change how people learn with computational devices. OLPC has reached more than 2.5M poor and remote kids, 6-12, in over 40 countries and 25 languages.

A graduate of MIT, Negroponte is a pioneer in the field of computer-aided design. He is also author of the 1995 best seller, Being Digital, which has been translated into more than 40 languages.

In the private sector, Nicholas Negroponte serves on the board of directors of Velti, and as general partner in a venture capital firm specializing in digital technologies for information and entertainment. He has provided start-up funds for more than 40 companies, including WIRED magazine.

In this talk, Negroponte will discuss why the Media Lab happened when it did and why it was never replicated. He will explain how innovations are often born in anti-academic environments, how corporate sponsors learn to share, and where new ideas come from. He may stray into why national competitiveness is a wrong-minded concept, why business schools are toast and design is key to the future.